A Japanese soccer fan wipes her tears as Japan loses their 2014 World Cup soccer match against Colombia, at a public viewing event in Tokyo. Reuters/Issei Kato Japan is dealing with what economists call a "demographic time bomb."

People are living longer, and they're heaping greater social-security costs onto younger generations who aren't having kids to replace them — thereby furthering the cycle.

Here are some of the most visible signs in daily life that the time bomb is ticking.

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There are now 68,000 people over 100 years old.

REUTERS/Issei Kato

To put Japan's widespread aging in perspective, 2017 marked the 47th straight year that the country has broken its own record for the number of centenarians, or people living past their 100th birthday.

In 2016, there were roughly 65,000 centenarians out of the total population of 127 million. The new total for 2017 stands at 67,824, The Asahi Shimbun reported in September.

Japan has the highest rate of centenarians out of any country, with 4.8 per 100,000 people. The US, the country with the most overall, has 2.2 per 100,000.

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Adult diapers outsell baby diapers.

REUTERS/Yuya Shino

Ever since 2011, sales of adult diapers in Japan have outpaced those of baby diapers.

The trend reflects just how big the cohort of senior citizens is: People over 65 make up a larger demographic than any other in Japan. Of the 127.11 million people, about 26.7% of them are seniors.

Normally, younger relatives would take care of the inmates once they're released. But in some cases the costs (and loneliness) are simply too much to bear in a troubled economy, and seniors look to prison as the better alternative.

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Seniors are suffering a spate of "lonely deaths."

Toru Hanai/Reuters

With fewer young people to care for them, elderly citizens sometimes live in total isolation, according to a New York Times report.

In the most severe cases, people's apartments become their tombs. Neighbors only find out they have died once the stench of death seeps through the walls. Some people have worked out pacts with their neighbors to watch out for signs they may have died, like not opening the blinds in the morning.

Employees are succumbing to 'death from overwork.'

Long work hours are leading to a rise in cases of karoshi, or "death from overwork."

A October 2016 report that examined karoshi and its cause of death found more than 20% of people in a survey of 10,000 said they worked at least 80 hours of overtime a month — a signal of just how desperate young people are for extra income.

Japan's government is taking steps to encourage people to leave work on time or take off one day entirely.